Sportslinkpk Latest Sports News in English
Joe Root, the England captain, says that his team’s overwhelming reaction was one of “relief” after their two-Test tour of Sri Lanka was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tour’s postponement was confirmed with England midway through the second day of their final warm-up match in Colombo, ahead of the first Test in Galle that had been due to get underway on March 19.
The players left the field at P Sara Oval at 3.40pm local time, and immediately departed for the team hotel ahead of their flight back to London on Saturday morning.
And speaking to PA prior to the departure, Root said that the team’s concerns for their friends and families back home had made it nigh on impossible to focus fully on the task of preparing for a Test series.
“There was an element of relief,” Root said. “The right decision has been made.
“You could see looking at the players that their minds were elsewhere thinking about people back home. Now that we can go and look after families and be with loved ones that’s put a lot of guys at ease.
“Naturally there was a lot of talk in the dressing room and it got to a stage where it overshadowed the cricket. Looking at how quickly things have happened at home, you’re thinking about family and friends who might be a bit more vulnerable and that’s hard when you’re a long way away.
“It was clear it was getting in the way of performance and affecting the mental well-being of the guys.”
The postponement was reluctantly agreed to by Sri Lanka Cricket, who stand to make a significant financial loss, but with 3000 England fans expected in Galle for the first Test, the likelihood of a spike in Sri Lanka’s recorded cases of COVID-19 was high.